By Richard Thomas Rating: A- For its 16th release of the annual limited edition of Four Roses Small Batch, the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky distillery is also marking its 135th brand anniversary. That’s right: although the distillery dates to 1910 (and is thus a historic site in its own right), the brand goes all the way back to 1888. For this noteworthy ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ First off, the formal title of this whiskey is quite a mouthful, so forgive me for not using the every single word in the title of the article: Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Heritage Barrel Rye Whiskey. Still, I don’t think that sentence-length title is necessary to either identify or categorize this particular bottle. ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the feverish madness that surrounds Pappy van Winkle and all things Buffalo Trace is how in that fever, the Buffalo Trace-obsessives have blinded themselves to all the good wheated bourbon made at other distilleries. Wheated bourbon is literally the only thing Maker’s Mark does, as does Heaven Hill. Yet ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: It’s escaped the notice (or at least the commentary) of all of my colleagues, but Summer 2023 has been an unusually busy time for the release of much sought after American whiskeys. This is because some stuff that normally doesn’t drop in summer was delayed, like Old Fitzgerald Spring 2023. Add to that a few items ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series, originally known as Tasters Selection, is now in its eleventh installment. During that time, the series has done a variety of iterations with their staple Tennessee Whiskey, such as finishing it in smoked hickory wood barrels and doing the barrel goes to beer than back to whiskey cycle. This most ...